I liked this cheesy, 1950s-style thriller about plants getting revenge on humans by forcing them to commit suicide with hat pins. But a friend of mine whos a fan of M. Night Shyamalans The Sixth Sense was disappointed, as The Happening is more obviously silly and old-fashioned than the directors earlier, more ambitious work. So if youre in the mood to watch Mark Wahlberg and Zooey Deschanel emote their way through a scary, overblown, semi-remake of The Day of the Triffids, then Id recommend The Happening. If youre looking for the kind of middlebrow-posing-as-highbrow entertainment that Shyamalan made earlier in his career, youre out of luck, in more ways than one.
ByJames DiGiovanna